


dégagé

by perihelion (mattratat)



Series: pas de action [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: College AU, Established Relationship, M/M, dance au, fouette 2: electric bugaloo, riku voice: what do u mean i have to face the consequences of my actions?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattratat/pseuds/perihelion
Summary: Riku had never cared much for dance before he met Sora.sequel to fouette
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: pas de action [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686295
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	dégagé

**Author's Note:**

> backstreet's back (alright!) 
> 
> huge thank u to my twin for letting me borrow their laptop to finish this chapter and to my friends for their unending love and encouragement<3 
> 
> this fic, much like the first one, is a love letter to kingdom hearts, to dance, to my friends, and to all of you

For all intents and purposes, Spring semester had always been Riku’s favorite. He liked snow days and drinking hot chocolate at Chakram’s in the latest hours of the night with Roxas. He liked sliding on icy sidewalks and making sure his friends didn’t eat shit every time they crossed a street. He liked wearing gloves and sweaters and curling up in several blankets to sit around and watch movies. When it got warm out, he liked getting out his mother’s quilt and lying under the sun with his friends, lazy and content to feel the sun on their skin, assignments abandoned for awhile. 

However. 

On the first day of classes this particular semester, Riku could feel nothing but an overwhelming sense of dread. What had started as a small anxiety in the morning had quickly snowballed in the beginnings of a panic attack by lunch. 

“Riku? Are you listening to me?” 

Riku glanced up from his chicken salad, frowning as he realized that no, he hadn’t been listening to a word that Roxas had said. “Sorry.” 

To his credit, Roxas only rolled his eyes. Normally, he would have bitched a little more about Riku’s poor attention span, but it had become a steady occurrence over the last couple of weeks, ever since finals had ended. 

“I asked if you were busy after class today,” Roxas repeated, picking idly at his fries. 

“I don’t think so,” Riku shrugged. “I don’t get out until 4, though.” 

“Sora’s class?” Roxas asked. He even had the gall to smirk, as if he didn’t already know the answer. 

“Yeah,” he answered. “Why?” 

“I left my bookbag at Hayner’s this morning. Can you stop on your way home and grab it?” 

“Why can’t you go get it?” It wasn’t that Riku had any real objections to making the stop, it was just that Roxas never passed up an opportunity to see his friends, especially when said friend was Hayner. They’d been practically joined at the hip since Hayner had moved to town at the beginning of winter break. 

“I’m going to PT with Ventus,” Roxas pointed out, with a tone of voice that clearly said he’d mentioned this at least once before, “Since Vanitas has to work tonight. I don’t know how long it will take.” 

“Oh, right,” Riku hummed, before immediately taking a bite of his chicken salad to avoid having to say anything else. Surely Roxas had mentioned this before, but the fact that Riku had no recollection of it was a little alarming. He thought he was pretty decent at paying attention to what his friends had to say, but… he’d been slacking more than usual in that department. “I can grab it.” 

“I can’t believe you guys are getting lunch and didn’t invite me,” a pouting voice suddenly whined by his ear, causing Riku to nearly jump out of his skin. 

“Hey, Xion,” Riku greeted as she slid into the booth next to Roxas. “How was your break?” 

She groaned louder than he’d been expecting. “It was fine. Everything was fine.”

“Riiiight,” Roxas snorted, knocking into her shoulder. “Was your dad being an ass?” 

“Which one?” She sighed, pausing to dig a lunch box out of her bookbag. It boasted a popular children’s movie from the year before and had definitely been bought in the toddler’s section at Wal-Mart, but Riku wasn’t about to call her out on it. 

“Either,” Roxas shrugged. 

“Not particularly,” Xion sighed, starting to pick at her sandwich. “They just spent the entire time researching. It was like a lab- even Ienzo got tired of them.” 

“Damn,” Riku whistled low. 

Xion nodded ruefully. “What did you do, Riku?” 

“I spent Christmas at Sora’s,” he answered. He’d be thrilled when Sora had asked him, thankful to get out of the house for a few days. Other than Christmas, though, he’d spent the entire break trying to make it sound like he wasn’t just laying around the apartment. It was a miracle that his dad had been out of town on business, but admitting that he’d been at home, alone, nearly the entire break was kind of pathetic. Roxas was the only one who knew, since he’d been in and out of their building despite crashing at Ventus and Vanitas’ place for most of the break. 

Xion smiled at his answer. “I’m glad you two get along so well. I knew we should have introduced them sooner.” 

She jabbed at Roxas side, who shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘we.’ I barely knew the guy, you’re his roommate.” 

“Fair enough.” Xion took a bite of her sandwich, and that was that. 

As the conversation lulled into momentary silence, Riku’s thoughts turned gloomy again. 

He hadn’t been answering his father’s calls. 

This wasn’t unusual, per say, but it was becoming a bit of a problem. Because eventually, he’d have to answer and the longer he waited, the more of a shitshow it would be. 

He’d gotten lucky with avoiding him all of break, but he wasn’t foolish enough to think that it would last. Eventually, the semester would end, and Riku would have to answer for his law school applications, or lack thereof. 

Each passing day was starting to feel like a doomsday clock. 

He should have just applied. He knew that, in theory. But he’d never been able to force himself to do it, and there was always something better he could be doing. Sora could easily tempt his time away with plans, Roxas had a new show for them to watch, Kairi would need help with an assignment (which was always just a front for wanting to chitchat). It never seemed to be the right time to sit down and fill out a single application. 

And now he was going to have a pre-law degree with absolutely no plans to go to law school. 

His father was going to kill him. 

Roxas started to ask Xion about a class she was taking this semester and Riku tried to listen and quell the doomsday feeling brewing in his gut as best he could. 

* * *

  
  
  


“Hi Riku.” 

Riku smiled, pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face in the dance studio. He’d (unsurprisingly) beaten Sora there, so a friendly face was certainly welcome. “Hey, Namine. Sora didn’t tell me you’d be here.” 

She returned his smile easily, her calm voice as soothing as ever. “I guess he must have forgotten. That’s okay, though. He’s been trying to get Xi and I to take a class with him ever since we met, I figured it was about time. Did you need another fine arts credit?” 

“Nah,” Riku hummed. “I just like watching him dance.” 

Namine started to reply, but the door flew open once again, slamming so loud nearly everyone jumped out of their skin. 

“Sorry!” Sora half shouted, grinning sheepishly at the class. “I always forget how light that door is.” 

Namine laughed at that, so quiet Riku doubted that anyone else could hear her. “He does that at home, too.”

“And in my apartment,” Riku whispered back. “It drives Roxas crazy.” 

They both quieted down when Sora started to speak.

“I know syllabus days are boring, but we do have to get through it! I promise it’ll be quick, though,” Sora said, making his way around the room to hand out papers. 

He winked at Riku when he handed him his. Namine hid her laugh with her palm, smiling sweetly at Sora when he got to her next. 

“So, my name is Sora! I’m really excited to dance with all of you this semester! Modern is my personal favorite, so I’m expecting that we’ll all have a lot of fun,” Sora continued, beaming at the ten or so students before him. “I’d like everyone to introduce yourself and then we can call it quits for today! How does that sound?” 

Everyone nodded that, yes, it sounded great, because syllabus days were the worst and everyone wanted a nap. Or maybe that was just Riku. 

“Okay, I’ll start. My name’s Sora, I’m a junior dance major and… a fun fact about me is that I once got lost on a field trip and got to spend the night in a museum when I was 12. It was great. Whose next?” 

Going around the room only took a handful of minutes or so, Sora dismissing them almost as soon as they were done. 

Namine bid them both goodbye, stopping to broker a deal with Sora (she’d do his laundry if he took her turn on dishes that night) before taking off. She was the last of the students to leave. 

“No quiz this time?” Riku asked. 

Sora shrugged. “Modern doesn’t have the vocab like ballet does. It’s freer. Why? Do you want one?” 

Riku snorted. “Definitely not.” 

Sora smiled, holding out both of his hands. Riku took them, grateful for the familiar warmth. Sora’s hands were always ridiculously warm, even when Sora himself was complaining about the cold. He was swaying a little now, giving Riku puppy dog eyes. 

“What do you want?” Riku asked, because he knew what that look meant. 

Sora immediately pouted at him. “Dinner tonight? After my zumba class?” 

“Sounds great,” Riku answered, leaning down to kiss his boyfriend’s forehead. 

“You missed,” Sora whined. 

“I didn’t,” Riku said, but he leaned down to give Sora a proper kiss, anyways. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Roxas had wandered in some time around 6, looking grouchy as he collapsed on the couch next to Riku. 

“Hey,” Riku greeted, glancing up from his homework. 

“Hey,” Roxas answered, sounding as grouchy as he looked. 

“How was it?” Riku closed his laptop, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t just using the conversation as an excuse to not do his reading. 

Roxas rubbed the his eyes with his palms. “Fine, I guess. I don’t know. It sucked, but I think he’s making progress? I mean, he’s basically learning how to walk again. It sucks.” 

Riku wasn’t really sure what to say to that. So he nodded. 

Roxas sighed. “Wanna play MarioKart?” 

Riku  _ did _ have an answer to that. “Hell yeah.” 

Riku sucked at MarioKart, but that was okay, because so did Roxas. 

It was depressing to get beaten by the NPCs on easy mode, but thankfully they both can see the humor in it. More importantly, Roxas seemed to be unwinding and enjoying himself, and that was good enough for Riku. 

Sora had said that he’d be by before 7, but 7 came and went without interruption. That in itself wasn’t alarming; Sora wasn’t the most punctual person on the planet. Admittedly, it had annoyed Riku a little bit when they first started dating, but he’d gotten over it. Tardiness was fine, so long as he got to see Sora eventually. He would always wait for him. 

Around 7:30, there was finally a knock on the door. 

“It’s open!” Roxas yelled. 

“Hey!” Sora greeted as he entered the apartment. 

“Hey, babe,” Riku said, checking the time before waving at Sora from his spot on the couch. “You’re late.” 

“And you’re cute,” Sora fired back, clearly delighting in the way Riku’s face immediately turned red. 

“And I’m going to throw up,” Roxas groaned, burying his face in his hands. 

“Sorry,” Sora said, crossing the room to lean down and kiss Riku on the cheek. “Zumba ran late and by ran late I mean I wanted to show them the new song and purposefully made class run late, but I also bought us a movie to watch this weekend to make up for it?” 

“Sounds great,” Riku assured him. “Ready to go?” 

Sora nodded. “Can I borrow one a sweatshirt? I forgot to bring one.” 

Riku could tell he was lying (Sora was always cold, he always had a sweatshirt within two feet of him), but he wasn’t about to pass up the chance to see Sora in one of his (giant on him) sweaters. “Yeah, of course. One sec.” 

After he’d retrieved one, a bright yellow hoodie that was big even on Riku, they bid their goodbyes to Roxas, who waved lazily at them before turning back to the game he’d been playing. 

“So, where do you want to go for dinner?” Riku asked as they got into Sora’s car. Most of their usual haunts were within walking distance, but it was still cold enough to justify driving instead. 

Sora hummed in response, which meant that he hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “You pick.” 

“How about Burrito Barn?” Riku suggested. “Then we could pop gummiship’s trunk and have a picnic?” 

“ _ The _ gummiship,” Sora corrected, “But that’s a great idea!” 

They still ended up having to walk, because the Burrito Barn wasn’t actually a barn, but rather a food truck that was always parked on the street by North Green. It was a hotspot for drunk food, but was just good enough to hold up for a dinner date, too. 

Sora ordered their burritos for them. He remembered to ask for extra cheese and onions on Riku’s, which made Riku smile ridiculously. It was such a small thing, but he hadn’t expected Sora to remember some tiny detail like that. 

“Here you go!” Sora said, passing the bag of burritos over to Riku. 

It was a chilly night, but Sora had a blanket in the backseat of his car that they threw over their shoulders while they ate. Sora’s feet didn’t quite touch the ground, dangling just an inch above it. 

They sat in a comfortable silence, eating their dinner and simply enjoying each other’s company for while. 

Riku was happy. 

He was happy when he was with Sora like this. He could pretend that none of his other worries existed. It was just him and Sora, pressed against each other’s side, and a sky full of stars. 

“Whatcha thinking about?” Sora asked, breaking the silence. 

Riku shrugged. “Just that the stars look beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Sora agreed. 

Riku glanced over at him, but Sora wasn’t looking at the stars. He was looking at Riku. 

Riku’s heart seemed to catch in his throat. 

Sora only smiled, leaning his head on Riku’s shoulder. 

Riku wondered if they could just sit like this forever. Or at least for a few more minutes. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It was almost easy to forget his woes. Riku threw himself into his schoolwork, his friends, and, of course, his boyfriend. If he didn’t have any time to think, he didn’t have any time to stress out. It worked for him. It did. 

His day had been going well. 

Riku took a deep breath and answered his father’s call. 

“Oh good, you’re not dead,” was the first thing the man said, completely deadpan. 

Riku swallowed the guilt down. “Yeah, just really busy.” 

For a few minutes, everything was actually okay. 

But, inevitably, his father asked, “So how did your applications go? You never told me.” 

Riku swallowed hard. This was his chance. He could come clean and get this awful weight off his shoulders. All he had to do was say it. 

“They went well,” he said, immediately feeling his stomach drop as the words left his mouth. Why did he say that? Dear  _ God _ , why did he say that- 

“Good,” was his father’s answer, which was about as pleased as the man ever got. 

“Yeah,” Riku answered, trying to keep his voice from wavering with the obvious lie. 

Why the fuck had he said that? 

“I have to go to a meeting. I’ll talk to you later. Try to answer more punctually next time?” 

The line went dead before Riku could answer. 

Shit. 

_ Shit. _

He was such a coward. 

He should call his father back. 

He should do that now.

Just click the contact, click the phone icon, tell him the truth. 

He couldn’t make his hand move. 

Riku groaned. 

What now? 

Truthfully, he just wanted to see Sora. 

That sounded perfectly fine to him. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t unusual for Sora to stay late at the studio. His work ethic was absolutely insane. If it was up to Sora, Riku was sure that he’d be dancing from dawn to dusk every day, and probably then some more. 

So it was no surprise, really, that Sora had texted Riku that he was going back to the studio after his zumba class to work on choreo. Riku had asked if Sora minded if he dropped by to watch, but he hadn’t heard anything back. Still, Riku had found himself wandering to the old dance building anyways as the sun sank down in the sky, when his father had called. 

There was no reason he could think of to turn back now. Besides, he wanted to see Sora. 

The trek up to the third floor was a familiar one by now, pale fluorescents lighting his way. 

He could hear the music wafting out from the studio and made his way towards it. 

Inside the studio, Sora was mid-dance and he was breathtaking. 

Riku had never cared for dance before they met, but he couldn’t help but appreciate the way Sora held himself as he danced, with each limb carefully stretched as far as it could go, purpose in each of his movements. Sora was small, but he seemed to fill the room as he danced, taking up as much space as he could. Under the poor studio lighting, he was radiant, he was angelic. He took Riku’s breath away. His chest seemed to fill with warmth as he watched, pride and love soaring together in his heart. 

Sora was lost in his own world, facing away from Riku and the mirror. He did this often, because, as Sora had explained, as important as it was to watch yourself, to check your technique and the choreo, it was also important to just feel the music and to let it move you. 

The song ended and Riku clapped, startling Sora. 

Recovering from his surprise, Sora beamed at him. “Riku!” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Riku greeted. “You just looked so focused that I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Oh, that’s okay, you know I wouldn’t have minded.” 

“Yeah, but I liked watching you dance,” Riku shrugged. “Was that the choreography you’re working on? It was really good.” 

Sora flushed red, scratching at the back of his neck. “Oh, that? No, I was just improving. Trying to stop the frustration.” 

“Frustration?” Riku echoed. 

Sora nodded. “Yeah. I think I have two solid parts, but there’s about 16 counts between them and I can’t think of a single way to connect them. It’s driving me nuts, Riku.” 

“Can I see it?” Riku asked. 

“Sure!” 

Sora pulled up the music, counting the beats under his breathe, groaning. “Shit, I missed my entrance. One sec.” 

He restarted the song and this time, he danced. 

Riku really had no dance expertise, outside of what he learned in Sora’s classes. And while Sora was a great teacher, Riku hadn’t exactly been the best student, so that was to say: he didn’t know much. 

Still, he was always mesmerized by watching Sora dance, even now when he looked annoyed and frustrated. 

Sora stopped, gracefully balancing on his toes. He hummed to himself for a few seconds, before starting again. 

The second section of the dance was shorter than the first and felt more… structured. Riku realized he could actually name some of the moves (maybe he did learn something from ballet class after all). It felt like a different piece entirely, despite the fact that the music was the same. 

“They’re both really good,” Riku said once Sora had finished. 

“Thanks.” Sora smiled at him, but it was strained. He really was frustrated. “I just… don’t know what to do to connect that. To go from the modern section to the ballet part. To show the shift. I don’t know. I think I’m just going to sleep on it. Again.” 

“You’ll figure it out,” Riku assured him. Sora was, in his mind, a dance genius. He could figure out the missing counts in his sleep if he stopped thinking so hard about it. 

“Thanks,” Sora said again, his smile softening as he looked at Riku. “I think I’m gonna stick around for a little longer, though. Stay with me?” 

“Always,” Riku answered easily. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u so much for reading!!
> 
> i know things are bizarre right now, but i hope this brought a little light to ur day<3
> 
> as always, please leave a comment and kudos if u liked it (i am starving for them), and feel free to hmu on twitter!! @vanitashours, let's be friends!!


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